LIPA on Friday flipped the switch on a massive solar farm, the first of its kind on Long Island, that could produce enough energy for 4,500 homes.

LIPA commissioned the Long Island Solar Farm, owned by BP Solar International and Met Life, at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

The project, which LIPA described as the biggest solar farm east of the Mississippi, includes 164,312 solar panels, which collectively are expected to provide 32 megawatts.

“This is a historic day for LIPA, our customers and all of Long Island,” LIPA Chief Operating Officer Michael D. Hervey said. “This solar farm not only strengthens our renewable energy portfolio, but also reduces our reliance on fossil fuels.”

LIPA said the ground-mounted solar project at Brookhaven National Laboratory is expected to cost about $298 million including interconnection costs over the 20-year length of the contract.

The authority said the solar power from this project would cost of about 60 cents per LIPA customer per month.

Mike Petrucci, CEO of BP Solar, said the project will produce a “significant source of clean energy for Long Island, as well as a positive economic impact for the local work force and businesses.”

Solar contractors praised the project on BNL land as ambitious, but said they still believe on Long Island, where land is scarce, smaller projects remain more practical.

“It’s positive. It’s one of the biggest systems that’s going to be installed in the Northeast, for sure,” said Kevin MacLeod, owner and president of KPS Solar, in Bay Shore. “It takes up a lot of property, which is the downfall for doing systems like that on Long Island.”

He said rooftop solar power remains crucial to the adoption of solar power on Long Island.

Doon Gibbs, Brookhaven Laboratory’s deputy director for science and technology, said BNL would use the project to gauge the operation of large solar power projects in the Northeast.

He said Brookhaven Lab scientists will have a “unique opportunity to study the challenges of deploying large-scale solar power installations in the northeastern U.S,” where weather conditions can “impact the array’s output on an hour-by-hour or even minute-by-minute basis.”

Although many environmentalists stood side by side with LIPA on Friday, the project initially led to an outcry over the clearing of trees in the name of green energy.

LIPA said it will provide $2 million for open space preservation within the Central Pine Barrens Region, while Brookhaven Lab will preserve an additional 51 acres of property in addition to the 500 acres it preserved in the 1990s.

As part of the deal, BP Solar also will provide $75,000 for ecological habitat, research and restoration.

LIPA, meanwhile, is providing $1.75 per watt solar power rebates for smaller, more typical projects, less than incentives offeredd a year and a half ago. But MacLeod said demand for solar panels also is down.

“The industry’s been slow. The rebates could be better. The economy doesn’t help,” he said. “And there’s anti-solar sentiment.”

MacLeod pointed to the Solyndra scandal, when a firm went bankrupt after receiving federal funding, as leading to some backlash.

“We’re in a defensive posture now until things start to look better,” MacLeod said. “The main problem is the economy.”

In addition to large-scale solar initiatives, LIPA said its solar programs have provided financial help for more than 4,800 residential and commercial customers.

3 comments

Re: Solar for LI –
Yes, let’s use solar energy for LI, but let’s not ‘to use our precious, dwindling the open space we need for our environment. Here is a way we can have our electric and our precious open space, too:

Every new home must have solar panels on its roof. It’s a require for every new LI structure. That means homes, stores, schools and malls, firehouses, etc.
Older structures must be solar within seven years.

Solar energy will be sent to “batteries” within each town. Residents may select to be linked to the main town battery, or create energy for their own solar batteries, as well.

Think of it: each Long Island roof on Long Island making clean energy for us all. And think of all the jobs that would be created for hundreds for this Island for years, as a well a boost for our environment.